THE rollout of new blue bins in Blackburn with Darwen has sparked a £900,000 turnaround.

Despite initial misunderstandings in what could be recycled during the 2020 launch, Blackburn with Darwen Council is now able to sell paper and cardboard that has been recycled in the borough.

In total, 11,378 tonnes of waste from kerbside bins was recycled in 2021 while 31,747 tonnes of waste went to landfills.

Last year, from a total of 780,000 collections, refuse collectors rejected 10,653 blue bins (paper and cardboard), while 11,052 grey bins (tins and plastics) were rejected, figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request showed.

Before the blue bins were rolled out, the Council was having to pay a premium of £600,000 a year for the contents of the grey bins to be processed due to the lack of recycling plants accepting mixed recyclables.

Now, thanks to residents’ recycling efforts, the paper and cardboard is of such good quality it can be sold, with more than £300,000 being recouped in the past year.

Through this cash made by the council and the savings from no longer having to sift through mixed litter, it means the council has made a turnaround of almost £1 million in less than two years.

Councillor Jim Smith, executive member for environment, said: “The new blue bins have helped spark a massive change for us in Blackburn with Darwen.

“We knew we had to take action because it was costing so much to dispose of the mixed recyclables in the grey bin and it wasn’t the best way for us to recycle.

“So few councils were collecting waste in that way that hardly any recycling plants would accept the contents of our grey bins and we sadly also had a really high rate of contamination too – the wrong items being in the wrong bin.

“We told residents that the blue bin scheme would pay for itself and we’re already well on the way to doing that which is brilliant news.”

The introduction of the blue bin across the borough cost £1.3m with weekly collections continuing – alternating between recycling and general waste.

The council say that contamination in the blue bins is low - less than 10 per cent.